Gene Roddenberry and NBC parted ways before the third season of Star Trek: The Original Series began, and Fred Freiberger was brought on board as the producer. Unfortunately, the third season wasn't the series' best, mainly because of a much tighter budget, which restricted the sets that could be built and the aliens that could be created. The ratings weren't there because NBC shoved the show into a Friday night time slot which would have spelled death for any series. Still, when The Original Series was cancelled after three season, Freiberger took the blame.
In a previous interview that was included in The Fifty Year Mission The First 25 Years by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, Freiberger said that he was the "target of vicious and unfair attacks." Writer David Gerrold said "everybody disliked Freiberger intensely," but the producer went on to say that the fans he met at conventions always treated him with courtesy.
Still, the third season of the series was a tough time for the producer as he was being held responsible for slipping ratings, and the shows that were good always had Roddenberry's name attached to them. If they weren't all that good, then Freiberger's name was attached. After the season was over, the producer had read that fans hadn't liked any of the episodes of the third season and that hurt him. Overall, it wasn't a happy experience for him. In fact, it was so distressing that the producer, who spent two years as a prisoner of war, called it a "travail" and said he thought the worst of experience of his life was being shot down over Nazi Germany.
"But I have to be honest. I thought the worst experience of my life was when I was shot down over Nazi Germany. A Jewish boy from the Bronx parachuted into the middle of eighty million Nazis. Then I joined Star Trek. I was only in a prison camp for two years, but my travail with Star Trek lasted decades. "Fred Freiberger
To believe working on Star Trek was worse than being a prisoner of war is unimaginable. Though the third season of the series did have some episodes that weren't all that great, every season of The Original Series and the other Star Trek series that followed did as well. The Original Series struggled in the ratings from the beginning, and blaming the producer wasn't right. It's a shame Freiberger had such a negative experience with a franchise that has gone on to become a bright light in entertainment today.